Nama Om Vishnu Paadaya, ….
Hari Haraaya Naam Krishna Yadavaya Naama Hari Gopal Govinda Rama Sri Madhusudhan
Mukham karoti…

Blissful Nityananda Trayodasi! Today I had the good fortune to go to the Chennai temple to participate in Nitai Gaur abhishek, and give a class. I also had some maha prasadam offered to the deities. This evening I cycled a little bit, 875 cycles. Yesterday, I had a record, 1385 cycles! So today I wanted to finish early so that I could attend the class. Otherwise we could have gone longer. Anyway, so today is a very special day. Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead; He is the original. Brahma Samhita says, Ishwaraha Parama Krishna Sachidananada vigraha, ananadir aadir Govindam sarva Kaarana Kaaranam. That Krishna is the original Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is the cause of all causes. And He is without any other cause Himself. So also the Rig Veda says a similar thing – Om Vishnu… Sachinandan gana Krishna Adi Purusha Krishna Purushottamaha. So Lord Nityananda appeared before Lord Caitanya in Raardesh, means where the Ganges doesn’t flow, in a village called Ekachakra. The Pandavas had stayed in that village sometime when they were there in their 12 years of exile. That is where Bhima fought the demon. They were staying in the house of some villager, and returned to their house to donate some member to this demon who was a cannibal. So everyone was saying that they would go, they were not very useful. So this was very impressive to the Pandavas, how they were so selfless. So Bhima said, let me go! So then the whole bullock cart filled with food stuff and Bhima, also was to be eaten by the demons. Bhima, when he saw the food, he started eating it. The demon came and said, what are you doing, you are eating my food! Ha! But Bhima kept eating! Ha! The demon started hitting him on the back. But Bhima kept eating! Ha! When he was finished he turned around and fought with the demon. So he was as powerful as ten thousand demons. And all this happened in the village where Lord Nityananda appeared. So when you go there you can still see the place they have kept, where the Pandavas stayed in. So when Lord Nityananda appeared it is called Garbha vaas, where He lived in the womb of His mother, Padmavati and His father was Hadai Ojha. So when He was a child, He would play with other boys. He would play dramas. They played Krishna drama, different avatars’ dramas. So one time they were playing the Rama Lila. So Nitai was playing Lakshman, which was His role in Rama Lila. So the other boy who was playing the party of Indrajit hit Lakshman with a special poisoned arrow and the only thing that could bring Him around would be the Sanjivani herb. But in the middle of the drama when Nityananda was unconscious, the mother of Nityananda came and called everyone to take lunch. Come on lunch time, take your prasadam! But Nitai was unconscious, He was lying there. What happened? What happened? WHAT HAPPENED? NITAI! NITAI! NITAI! Come on! NITAI! NITAI! So they called His father. He could not do anything, they called the doctor. The doctor came and he said I don’t see anything wrong with Him but He is unconscious. Then Hadai Ojha said, what was He doing? Then they explained that we were playing the drama of Rama Lila and He was playing Lakshman and He just got hit by the arrow of Indrajit. So what is the next thing? Then all the boys remembered that Nitai told them that don’t forget to get Hanuman to bring the Sanjivani. They told this to the father and the father asked, who is playing Hanuman? One came forward and said, I am. Bring the Sanjivani plant, quick, quick, bring it. Then he went to bring it. Then he saw a brahmana who appeared like a devotee but he was actually a servant of Ravana, the TEN HEADED DEMON! He said my dear Hanuman, I have nice bananas and fruits for you. Please take these fruits. Would you like to take a bath in the pond and freshen up? So the boy playing Hanuman went to the pond and then a demon alligator, crocodile, came and attacked him. Hanuman, smashed that crocodile and came back and saw that the so called brahmana was actually a servant of Ravana! He said your master is a dog! A DOG! I don’t care anything for him, I am going to get the Sanjivani herb for Lord Lakshman! Haribol Bajarang Bali ki jai! Hanuman ki jai! So that boy went and he got the herb, he didn’t know which herb, so he got the whole mountain, came back and the boy playing Rama took some herb from that and gave it to Lakshman to smell, He put it under Lakshman’s nose, who was Nitai playing and Nitai came back to consciousness. Nitai! Jai Nitai! So like this every day they played dramas. And the adults thought how do these boys know all the dramas like they were there! Ha! Ha! Which was the truth! Ha! So like this the days passed by and when Nitai was about 12 years old, one sanyasi came visiting. And Hadai Ojha being a liberal brahmana, he greeted the vaishnava sanyasi and offered prasadam. He asked him if there is anything I could do for you? He said, well there is something, but do you really mean you want to do something? No I want, I promise you he said. Will you give me anything I want? Will you? For you? Yes! Yes! Are you sure? Yes! Are you really sure? Yes! I want Nitai!!! I need a brahmachari! Nitai! Nitai! Nitai! Now Hadai Ojha, he did not want to be a bad example for his son, being a brahmana who told a lie. But he couldn’t live without Nitai. So he was in a real dilemma. So he had to give Nitai. He stood at the end of the village and saw Nitai walking with the sanyasi and when they were out of sight, he fainted and fell down and left his body! He couldn’t accept separation from the Lord. So like this Lord Nityananda, He travelled over South India. There He met Madhavendra Puri and His guru and He got initiated. Finally, He joined Lord Caitanya’s sankirtan movement which I mentioned today in the temple. The last one thing I said, being the younger brother of Krishna is a very bad situation. So as Balaram, He came as the older brother. Nitai was the God brother of Ishwara Puri. But He was also the servant of Lord Caitanya. So almost all the pastimes of Lord Caitanya in Navadvip had also Lord Nityananda, and when Lord Caitanya took sanyas, Lord Nityananda was there with four other devotees, in Katwa. After Lord Caitanya became a sanyasi, then He was in ecstasy, He wanted to go to Vrndavan. So Nityananda prabhu told the cowherd boys by the side of the Ganges, that if Lord Caitanya comes and says where is Vrndavan? You point South! He jumped into the river and swam down to Navadvip. So when Lord Caitanya came to the Ganges, He asked Vrndavan? VRNDAVAN! VRNDAVAN! The boys said that way! But it was actually the other way. So Lord Caitanya went down and then He got to Kalna, just opposite Shantipur. He saw Advaita crossing the river in a boat. So He said, hmm what is Advaita doing in Vrndavan?! Then He realized I am not in Vrndavan! NITAI CHEATED ME! NITAI! NITAI! So Advaita said, no, You are in Vrndavan. The Jamuna and Ganges combine together at Prayag. And the western side is Jamuna and eastern side is Ganga. You are on the eastern side! Ha! So then He brought Lord Caitanya back to Shantipur. And there He saw His mother and Lord Nityananda. So Lord went to Jagannath Puri and He told Nityananda that we have started a business of sankirtan in Bengal. But We didn’t finish. You should go back and finish. And even if You don’t come every year to Jagannath Puri it is alright. Because We should flood the whole Bengal with the sankirtan movement. Lord Nityananda said, I need some help. I need some devotees. So Lord Caitanya said, take whatever You need. So He took about 45 devotees and Abhiram das and many others. Miniketan. So the devotees normally would take one month to walk from Jagannath Puri to Bengal, or less. But they took three months because they were acting out the different leelas of Lord Krishna. They became so ecstatic that instead of following the road, they went zig zag and then they realized they were off the road. Then they would ask the villagers, where is the road to Bengal? Oh, 25 kilometers that way! Then in ecstasy they would cross the road and go the other way. And then they realized that they were off the road again. Which way is Bengal and the villagers would say, 30 kilometers this way! The road! So like this they took around three months to reach Panihati. And then He came to the house of Raghava Pandit who was cooking in the kitchen with his sister, Damayanti. And then when he saw Lord Nityananda, he immediately paid his obeisances. He said, how many are you? He said we are about 45. So take a bath in the Ganges and come back in half an hour and I will have a feast prepared for 50 people. Good cooks! So like this, Lord Nityananda, He started the sankirtan in Panihati. First He was sitting and watching them do kirtan, and He was bathed by the devotees with buckets of Ganges water and then He came back and He wore His dried dhoti and chaddar. He asked Raghava Pandit, I am a cowherd boy, get Me a kadamba garland! So Raghava Pandit said, I don’t have any kadamba trees! This is not the season for flowers. Don’t give Me excuses, go in the garden and get the kadamba flowers. So he went to his garden, he had a lemon tree and suddenly the lemon tree started to bo bo bo, started to produce kadamba flowers. Haribol! Jai Nitai! So He stringed the garland and he came back and offered it to Lord Nityananda. And then Nityananda started to dance. Lord Caitanya said, there are five places He will always be present and one of the places was wherever Nityananda prabhu said! He won’t miss that! Ha! Lord Nityananda is dancing.

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So this was the kind of kirtan Lord Nityananda had. And then the devotees they kept the kirtan going day and night for one month. Gradually more and more people started to congregate – one thousand, two thousand, three thousand, up to ten thousand people! They forgot themselves and stayed for three days. Then they remembered that I have a house and family and went back. People would say what happened? They would say, Nityananda! Hare Krishna Hare Krishna! Ha! Ha! Ha Ha! Nitai! Ha! Ha! They couldn’t speak. More and more people came to see what was happening! And the kirtan kept on going and the people were overwhelmed. And finally some devotee started jumping from tree top to tree top. One devotee took a huge tree and uprooted it. He started to dance with it. And then Abhiram he took a 60 feet long bamboo, held it like it was a flute! Held it and played on it. After a while. Raghav Pandit went to Lord Nityananda and said all my trees are being uprooted by Your devotees. I won’t be able to offer You bhoga. All the trees are uprooted! Lord Nityananda took His party and went forward. Village to village. Wherever He went, people were overwhelmed with His kirtan rasa. Deko oh re bhai, tribhuvane nai, eimono dayalu Thakur. So Lord Nityananda, He was giving out the mercy.

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He would say the sankirtan market is flooded. Haribol! Jai Nitai! Nitai Gaur! Haribol!

It is already late. Are there any questions about Lord Nityananda?

There was a break in audio again. Transmission ended abruptly but I presume there would have been a question or two but I don’t have the recording.

Transcribed by Jayaraseshwari devi dasi
18 February 2019